Combining computational linguistics with sentence embedding to create a zero-shot NLIDB
Accessing relational databases using natural language is a challenging task, with existing methods often suffering from poor domain generalization and high computational costs. In this study, we propose a novel approach that eliminates the training phase while offering high adaptability across domains. Our method combines structured linguistic rules, a curated vocabulary, and pre-trained embedding models to accurately translate natural language queries into SQL. Experimental results on the SPIDER benchmark demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, with execution accuracy rates of 72.03% on the training set and 70.83% on the development set, while maintaining domain flexibility. Furthermore, the proposed system outperformed two extensively trained models by up to 28.33% on the development set, demonstrating its efficiency. This research presents a significant advancement in zero-shot Natural Language Interfaces for Databases (NLIDBs), providing a resource-efficient alternative for generating accurate SQL queries from plain language inputs.
Authors
- Fernando Peres
- Mauro Castelli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8793-1451)
- Yuriy Perezhohin
Institutions
- University of Lisbon (PT)
- Universidade Nova de Lisboa (PT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Array
- Published
- 2024-10-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.array.2024.100368
- Primary Topic
- Topic Modeling
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia